Review: Samsung SGH-X820, the World's Thinnest

Samsung SGH-X820

Samsung SGH-X820

Samsung SGH-X820

Introduction

What would you say to your child on his or her first day of school? The Chinese tell their kids to put their heart in it (Yong Xin) and work hard; the Japanese tell their kids to concentrate and persevere (Ganbarre); the Koreans tell their kids to be the top of the class (Che il) - It is one of the Korean virtues to be number one. This is true at school, and is also true for Samsung, and the Ultra series speaks loudly for that.

The Motorola V3 is recognized as "where it all started," but in the candy bar world, the thinness obsession was actually started by Panasonic. In the Japanese domestic market, where function once outweighed everything else, Panasonic was the only company that was conscious about keeping everything as thin as possible. The company even introduced its first thin GSM candy bar, the X200 (12.9mm), before the RAZR, but it never became a hit. After the megapixel chase (up to 10 megapixels now in some markets), thinness has become the new game. We had the handsome looking Motorola SLVR, but Samsung has jumped into the limelight with the 6.9mm (0.27") thin SGH-X820 - and a whole Ultra series to back it up.

The Samsung SGH-X820 (and X828 Hong Kong Version) we are looking at today is the first phone in the Ultra series to reach the market. It is the thinnest phone in the world as we are writing.

Physical Aspects

The first thing that caught our attention is the claim of the thinnest phone in the world. Some say that Samsung has cheated, as the camera module at the back protrudes out slightly, bumping the thickness to 9.9mm (0.39"). When you take into account a two megapixel camera module measures at least 6mm in thickness, Samsung really has already done a remarkable job.

So how thin is the X820? What do these numbers mean? To make it easy for everyone to understand, I can say that the X820 is as thick as an iPod nano. A lot of us are still a haunted by build issues with slim devices; the X820 weights 66g (2.33oz), and apparently, there is not much metal reinforcement in there. It would be just too ambitious to test how much pressure the phone can handle, since it doesn't come free, but I haven't scratched or cracked anything carrying the X820 in my jeans pocket for a week.

If you had bad experiences with the iPod nano, I can tell you that the X820 is extremely well built, the screen is tough, and the parts simply will not squeak at all.

At first glance, the X820 appears to be slightly wide by proportion; the actual measurements are 113mm x 50mm x 6.9mm (4.45" x 1.97" x 0.27"). The design is minimalist, and the only part that stands out is the metal stripe around the earpiece and the flashy Anycall logo underneath. The whole body is completely black, which seems to be the Samsung color this year. Many of my female friends have commented how they would have wanted it in white or pink. The dark color might look too serious, but with the thinness and overall design, I think it can still slide elegantly into a purse. The phone edges are slightly curved, making the grip a comfortable one. The weight spreads evenly over the device, and the anti-slip finishing at the back allows the thin body to sit steadily on your palm.

Just like the front, the sides are minimalist too. The camera button and the headset/power port are situated on the right, whereas the volume buttons are on the left. I am very happy that Samsung has realized a flat keypad is not necessary to keep things thin. As oppose to the Samsung SGH-D800, the keypad on X820 is slightly contoured, and to my surprise, it has a disproportionately good tactile feedback. With the larger than average key size and appropriate key spacing, text input on the X820 is a pleasant experience. However, the lowest row of the keypad is sometimes quite hard to access, as the buttons are too close to the edge of the handset. Even so, the keypad is still more usable than that on the Motorola RAZR and SLVR. The X820 also looks good in the dark with the white keypad backlight.

It would have been quite hard to find any fault with the physical aspects of the X820, but there is just one thing that Samsung has missed. It is quite trivial actually, and I feel a little embarrassed to mention it - a strap hole. I am not talking about hanging the phone around your neck, though that would also be helpful, but a strap would be handy for when you are trying to fiddle for the phone in a backpack.

 

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